Two sides to Bears' draft, but only one will produce Matt Nagy's winner

Jay Taft Rockford Register Star @jaytaft

Saturday

Apr 28, 2018 at 8:27 PMApr 28, 2018 at 11:14 PM

LAKE FOREST — First they got their quarterback for the defense; then they got some help in protecting their quarterback on offense.

They followed that up by spending the past couple of days adding five other pieces that they hope can help to mold this Chicago Bears’ team into new head coach Matt Nagy’s version of a winner.

But in evaluating this year’s Bears’ draft picks, which included four defensive players and three for the offensive side, everybody wants to know if they got the right guys, and if it was enough?

The answer is Yes — and no.

They got some of the right players, and filled some of the needs in doing so. But it wasn’t enough.

"I couldn't be happier with this draft," Bears general manager Ryan Pace said when he first stepped to the podium when it was all over Saturday. He later added: "But you're never totally satisified. You're never totally happy."

This skyscraper isn’t going to go up in just one offseason. It’s going to take a lot of hard work, and time.

And as is the case with most drafts, there are two ways to look at it: You can put a positive spin on it, but there is always a negative side. We won’t find out which one wins out for about two seasons.

The pluses

The last three years, the first three as a GM for Pace, the Bears started off the draft by taking “works in progress.” In wide receiver Kevin White (No. 7, 2015), defensive end Leonard Floyd (No. 9, 2016) and quarterback Mitch Trubisky (No. 2, 2017), the Bears had to finish polishing them off before they were ready for the NFL.

This year, they at least started with an already-polished, NFL-ready guy.

"To come away with one of the top defensive players in the draft, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, the Butkus Award winner, we're fired up," Pace said of linebacker Roquan Smith, who the Bears selected with their first-round pick. "We're fired up about this. The whole draft room is excited. The whole building is excited."

When the Bears drafted linebacker Smith with the eighth overall pick, the draft instantly became about the defense. Smith was the anchor of Georgia’s national-runner-up defense, was a consensus All-American, and he comes in ready to start next to the other inside backer Danny Trevathan, right away.

For defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, this was a hole-in-one. (Which, by the way, Fangio came in to the Halas Hall media room to announce he had an actual hole-in-one on Thursday afternoon.)

The Bears also got a pair of linebackers and a D-lineman in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds, needs that had to be addressed in the draft.

And Nagy attempted to boost his own offense as well. Lineman James Daniels was the Bears’ second-round selection, and they hope he will man the other guard spot opposite Kyle Long for years to come.

And if either or both of the wide receivers that they brought in (one in the second round, and another with their seventh-round pick) pans out, that is another question mark that can be erased.

"I feel like we certainly have enough to work with now," Nagy said. "We're in a really good spot now."

Or are they?

The minuses

There is another side to things, as usual, and a more pessimistic way to look at this draft for the Bears.

To start, even up 10 pounds from his playing weight of last year, Smith is undersized at 6-foot-1, 236 pounds. He will need to add some strength and bulk to his frame to be able to shed blocks from the big guys he’ll face in the NFL.

The next potential problem came in Round 2 — twice. Daniels is a center who will have to move to guard, and wideout Anthony Miller could be a speedster they covet, but they passed on wide receiver Courtland Sutton of SMU to get Daniels, and that oversight could come back to bite them in the future.

Miller thinks the Bears made the right move.

“They believed in me,” said Miller, who had 191 receptions, 2,896 receiving yards and 32 touchdown catches over the past two seasons alone. “And I’m going to prove everybody who passed me up wrong. The Bears are going to get all I’ve got.”

Another possible issue that could arise from this weekend is that Chicago waited until the sixth round to get any type of edge rusher, taking a flier on Utah defensive end Kylie Fitts. And in Fitts, they added another injury-prone player to the defensive mix. He played in two games two years ago and 10 last year.

What does it all mean?

The NFL Draft is not a science, and there is no one out there who knows whether the Bears nailed it this year, or whether they got nailed. Now we must wait and see how it all unfolds.

Don’t forget: Pace was 14-34 with his first three teams, and the pressure is mounting. He has to hit on his big shots these days, but he took some risks this weekend anyway.

And as the sign in the Bears' old weight room can attest to: No risk, no reward.

"It's been kind of a blur, but I feel so good right now, and the building is so energized," Pace added. "There's just such a positive vibe around here... It's just such an exciting time to be a part of this organization."

Jay Taft: 815-987-1384; jtaft@rrstar.com; @Jay Taft

2018 Draft

1st round (No. 8 overall): ILB Roquan Smith of Georgia

2nd rd. (No. 39): C James Daniels of Iowa

2nd rd. (No. 51, via trade): WR Anthony Miller of Memphis

4th rd. (No. 115): LB Joel Iyiegbuniwe of Western Kentucky

5th rd. (No. 145): DL Bilal Nichols of Delaware

6th rd. (No. 181): DE Kylie Fitts of Utah

7th rd. (No. 224): WR Javon Wims of Georgia

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